Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of vehicles or carriers movable across roads for the working of the upper surface thereof.
Description of the Prior Art
The maintenance of old asphalt roads can include spraying an emulsion on the top surface of the road. Aggregate may then be dropped onto the emulsion with the aggregate sinking below the top surface of the emulsion. Asphalt roads particularly those in the rural area may not be adequately maintained thereby increasing the deteriation.
A crown may run along the center of the road providing higher elevation in the middle as contrasted to the sides of the road. Further, the road may be undulating and uneven across the width and length thereof. Nevertheless, the emulsion must be evenly applied resulting in a smooth surface. The emulsion could be spread across the road either manually by brushes, scrapers or other devices. Alternatively, a frame with scrapers extending downwardly may be pulled behind a truck in order to attempt to achieve an even surface. It becomes difficult to achieve an even surface due to the varying elevation and deteriation of the road. Disclosed herein is a wheeled frame pullable behind a truck or other vehicle with the frame having downwardly extending brushes that are initially adjusted relative to the road surface as well as being adjusted as the frame is pulled along the road to ensure the brushes contact the emulsion in such a manner to achieve an even top surface. Substantial savings are achieved using the above technique since the life of the road is prolonged and therefore not requiring construction of a new road.
In our U.S. Pat. No. 9,179,588 we disclose a towable vehicle having downwardly extending brushes for brushing top dressing material between grass blades for the proper maintenance of golf greens. A variety of different brush patterns extending down from the vehicle are disclosed. The U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,833,013; 6,655,469; 8,220,558; and 9,668,397 granted to the co-inventor Michael E. Davis also disclose various vehicles or frames movable across the ground having ground engaging elements.
Early road working machines were disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,142,262 WK Beckham et al. and 2,184,913 CG Fuller. Both patents disclose leveling blades or scrapers extending downwardly from a frame to engage the road.
The main disadvantage of the prior devices is the inability to easily and quickly adjust the devices extending downwardly to contact the emulsion as the road undulates and may result in a very uneven upwardly extending road surface. The device disclosed herein allows for an initial setting and continued adjustment of the positioning of the downwardly extending brushes depending upon the contour of the road surface. Further, the brush frame elevation may be remotely controlled by a transmitter/receiver combination.
The brush frame includes a towbar pivotally mounted thereto that is connectable to the pulling vehicle hitch. The hitch may vary in height from each vehicle to each vehicle. A mechanism is provided to position the towbar onto the hitch while maintaining the set plane of the brush frame.
Typically road working machines are transported to the working site by a flatbed vehicle. As the frame of the road working machine is pulled upwardly to store on a flat bed, the frame is traditionally tilted causing the rear portion of the frame to contact the ground with other portions of the frame contacting the top edge of the ramp as it is pulled onto the bed. The mechanism allows the brush frame to extend horizontally while the device is pulled from ground level up the ramp eliminating the prior problem of contact between the frame and the ground and/or the top of the ramp.